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I have been giving home staging advice before it was called "staging."  One of my fondest memories was the appointment I went on for a Burbank IL real estate listing.  It was a basic split level style home with 3 bedrooms, formal living room, kitchen and down a few steps was a family room. 

A family of 7 lived here and it was time to move on as they were very cramped.  I walked through the home and we went over things that I felt the house needed in order to sell at the price the sellers wanted to get.  There were some repairs that were needed but the first thing that I told them was that they had to clean up the family room.

This room must not have been used for its purpose in years.  It was stacked from wall to wall and top to bottom with furniture,…

My son, Chad and I like to take the grandkids on walking paths to help us keep in shape.  We used to push the kids in strollers but they outgrew that and now walk on their own.

Sometimes they run too far ahead of us (especially on this winding trail) and sometimes they stop our stride by fooling around.  We have to stop fighting, have to help with falls and need to stop to tie shoes or take a drink of water.

For my blogs and some variety, we like finding and trying out different paths. I don't know who told us about this particular trail, but it sure was interesting. 

There are several different trails intertwined around Horsetail Lake located in Palos Park around McCarthy Rd. & 108th Ave.  We looked at the map and figured we'd simply walk the… Read Full Post

If you have a real estate website and have studied the search engines you are probably aware that se's are not thrilled with the multitude of real estate websites that they have to sift through for their search engine index.  I don't think our industry is treated fairly and with a true knowledge of our business practices.

I realize that there are many, many real estate websites and some use duplicate content and others use shady seo practices.  Many real estate agents don't know about seo at all and many that do cannot afford to hire professionals.  Some go out on their own and learn some blackhat methods such as hidden text, cloaking and keyword spamming.  They might not truly realize these are frowned upon by the search engines and can cause more harm… Read Full Post

Two of my last buyer clients came to me through my websites.  They did not start their search with me.  They searched because they were unhappy with the agent they started working with.

Over the years I have ended up working with buyers that left their original agents.  The biggest complaint is that their agent did not listen to them.  They only gave properties in a higher price range or without wanted amenities or in areas not requested by the buyer.

We all get the buyer that wants what they cannot afford.  I'm not talking about that kind of buyer.  I'm talking about buyers that I listened to and found them a property they were very happy with. 

One of my most recent closings was for buyers of LaGrange real estate.  Their complaint was a bit…

I use my digital camera a lot for real estate to take many photos of a home for sale to use in photo slideshows, virtual tours and still shots on my websites.  Like some of my portable tools, it doesn't always stay in my car but usually sits on a shelf on my desk until I need it.  Sometimes I wish I had it with me when I'm out and miss a good photo op (still not sure how to download photos from my cell phone and I'm also not sure of the quality).

Yesterday I had a closing for La Grange real estate.  This was a nice brick home that passed the inspection with flying colors. 

Since the closing was a bit later in the afternoon we decided to take our final walk-through right before the closing.  It's a good thing we did since they were still moving and…

It was late last night when I first went to Zillow.com.  That was part of my problem.  As a REALTOR® I thought it might be a good idea to add my profile to the popular website.  Kind of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mentality.  OK, I did it to see if I got a backlink.  No, really, such a popular site might actually bring some traffic.

As I entered my profile I saw the "add a listing" feature.  I decided to try it with one listing I have where my sellers have a contingent contract on another property and need to sell.  I'm trying to do whatever I can to market their place.

It was easy enough to enter and I pressed the Publish link.  To my horror I saw the list price of $349,900 followed by the zestimate of $262,733! 

Today, I tried removing…

Coyote Not Ugly

Where did they get that saying?  I think coyotes are cute and the recent visit by a coyote to a downtown Chicago Loop Quiznos proves that they are nice looking animals.  I've read of coyotes being found in Chicago but this is the most interesting sighting:
Coyote Visits Quiznos in Chicago

Rattlesnakes Rattling Illinois Residents

Just when you think that has to be the most interesting animal happening in the area there is another story about rattlesnakes in northern Illinois!  And this endangered species bit a nice labrador in McHenry County.  Read all about it here.

Drunken Cop Attacks Bartender

And since we're talking about animals, you might as well read about one of Chicago's finest (hopefully to be ex-finest), attacking… Read Full Post

I know many buyers and sellers realize that real estate agents have a networking system where they can refer a client to an out-of-town, out-of state or out of country agent.  Yet few buyers or sellers take advantage of this and try to go to the area they're moving to or selling from and try to locate their own agent.

While it's not a terrible thing to do it that way, a prospect might be better served by going through a local agent to give them a referral of an agent from the area they are thinking of moving to or selling from.   I am located in Chicago, IL, but can find an agent in any other state, or a different country almost anywhere in the world.

What is the benefit for you?  You don't have to do any searching and interviewing.  That can take a… Read Full Post